Aga Khan Academy

Gallery

In Brief

Client:The Aga Khan Academies

Location:Dhaka, Bangladesh

Completion:2020

This 1200-student residential school is located on a 20-acre site near the centre of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The school is part of a network of state of the art K12 schools, being established by His Highness the Aga Khan.

Through the Aga Khan Academies there are 18 planned locations across Africa, the Middle East, Central and South Asia and Europe.

The Aga Khan Academies aim to support long-term national and regional development by providing an international standard of education and strong leadership experience to talented students. The students are selected based on merit, regardless of socioeconomic background, and will become future home-grown leaders. The Academies also strengthen national education systems by providing professional development and modelling best practices as centres of excellence.

The Academy is arranged around a central ‘Maidan’ community gathering space and sports field, linked by a continuous colonnade, and interspersed by landscape courtyards of varying character. The classical Masterplan layout is derived from our studies of the original Buddhist universities of the region.

The result is an architectural language which showcases intricate brickwork techniques set against ‘jali’ screen detailing as a contemporary interpretation of an important local tradition. The project incorporates the overarching Aga Khan Academies brief whilst integrating historic Bangladeshi customs in spatial arrangements.

This project is a collaboration between FCBStudios and Rafiq Azam of Shatotto in Dhaka.

Flythrough

Take a close-up look at the new Aga Khan Academy and proposed landscaping.